The care of pets is a substantial undertaking. In addition to feeding and general healthcare, a pet owner must also tend to pet waste disposal. This is particularly true for cats, which are often house bound animals. A conventional method of addressing cat waste product is to provide a tray or similar container that holds particles or granules of absorbent litter. The cat is trained to urinate and defecate in the “litter box,” thereby affording the owner a more convenient opportunity to retrieve and dispose of the waste and soiled litter.
Different types of litter are known in the art. One type of litter is often referred to as “clumping litter.” This type of litter forms “clumps” when wetted, as when a cat urinates in the litter box. The clumps can be removed from the box along with any feces and soiled litter to leave the remaining fresh litter available for future use.
It is well known to provide a scoop or other hand-held device to facilitate the removal of feces, soiled litter and litter clumps. In fact, a wide variety of litter scoops are known in the prior art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,076,627 discloses a “Scoop for Cat Litter” that includes a shovel-like end portion with a bottom panel, two side panels, and a rear panel that allow the user to dig out waste and soiled litter from a litter box or the like. The disclosed panels include elongated slotted openings to sift on strain the litter for disposal. The slots thus allow the user to strain waste material and soiled litter from the fresh litter, and return the fresh litter to the litter box for future use. The operation may entail shaking the scoop, which can result in spilling some of the litter. A shield is provided at the rear panel to protect a user from contact with litter as a result of the straining or sifting operation. A user of such a device may not vigorously shake the scoop in order to avoid spills.
As a further example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,234,549 discloses a “Dual Action Scooper for Clumping and Non-Clumping Cat Litter” that is configured to segregate and lift-away wet cat litter. The rear portion of the scooping blade provides a containment-bowl area, effectively holding wet cat litter when the handle is tilted down. Yet another example is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 6,022,058, which discloses a “Vibrating Cat Litter Scoop.” That disclosed scoop provides a vibrating mechanism activated by a thumb switch located at the handle of the device. Upon activation, the vibrating mechanism imparts an oscillating movement to accelerate the manual steps of insertion, pushing, lifting and sifting the litter.
A further example is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 7,523,973, which discloses a “Thermoformed Litter Scoop.” That disclosed scoop provides a generally concave scoop portion having a plurality of openings defined to allow the passage of litter particulates therethough. That disclosed invention is characterized by reinforcing ribs. More particularly, the disclosed scoop discloses at least two handle supporting ribs that extend along substantially the entire length of the handle portion and into the central portion of the scoop portion, and at least two scoop supporting ribs extending outwardly into the handle-scoop connecting region along an upper portion of each side of the rear wall of the scoop portion.
Yet another scoop is offered under the trademark “DuraScoop,” which provides a slotted, concave scoop portion with an integral handle. The slotted scoop portion is fitted with a matingly-configured slotted, concave closure panel that sits immediately below the scoop. The closure panel includes an integrally formed button that extends both above and below the handle of the scoop so as to be manipulated by a user. Manipulation of the button relative to the handle slides the closure panel relative to the scoop. In a first position, the closure panel slots are aligned with the scoop portion slots so that litter can exit the scoop. Thus, the “DuraScoop” device provides for manual sifting or straining of the litter along the line of that addressed by U.S. Pat. No. 5,076,627. However, in order to avoid spillage, the “DuraScoop” product provides a button that may be depressed toward the handle so as to slide the closure panel forward relative to the scoop. When fully depressed to a second position, the slots in the scoop are covered by the closure panel so that neither litter nor waste material may spill out of the concave scoop. The user of this “DuraScoop” device is thus provided with the ability to selectively retain all material captured by the scoop, including waste material and soiled litter, for disposal. If the user wishes to sift or strain the litter, the “DuraScoop” product's slidable closure panel may be returned to the first position by an upward movement of the user's index finger on the button portion below the handle, which operates to return the button to its original, first position and aligns the scoop's and closure panel's respective slots to facilitate sifting and straining. Consistent therewith, the “DuraScoop” product's advertising states: “Slots close to prevent spills” and “Waste goes in trash not on floor.” See http://www.durascoop.com/original.php?productid=2#iding. The purpose and effect of the “DuraScoop” product's closure panel is to provide a mechanical cover that precludes material from exiting the scoop prematurely; it prevents spillage.
It is, of course, desirable to scoop soiled litter, clumped litter and waste material in such a manner as to prevent spills. Even so, it is also desirable to facilitate the straining and sifting of used (or clumped) litter and waste from the fresh, still useable litter. While each of the foregoing devices provides utility, there is a need in the art for a scoop that not only prevents spills, but also assists and facilitates, even enhances, the straining and sifting operations routinely associated with the use of a standard scoop.